Search

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a new classification of helping behavior using the recipient’s solicitation and the helper’s proactiveness. Additionally, the authors explore helping motives for each of the forms of helping behavior that the authors identify. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examined relevant research and performed a theoretical analysis. Findings – The authors classified helping behavior into three distinct forms, including unsolicited proactive helping behavior, unsolicited reactive helping behavior, and solicited reactive helping behavior. Additionally, the authors claimed that unsolicited proactive helping behavior is an outcome of personality and dispositions, that unsolicited reactive helping behavior is a process of social and instrumental exchange, and that solicited reactive helping behavior is a product of functional motives. Practical implications – First, from the perspective of organizational justice, the authors recommend managers to take the form of helping behavior exhibited into consideration when evaluating employees’ helping behavior because certain forms of helping behavior require greater degrees of cooperation and sacrifices from the helper than other forms. Second, because employees who engage in high levels of unsolicited proactive helping behavior are likely to experience interrole conflict, the authors suggest that managers provide counseling and managerial support that help cope with emotional and psychological strain created by excessive role demands. Finally, findings of this study imply that managers need to create a workplace culture where employees can feel comfortable to solicit help when necessary. Originality/value – This is the first study that classifies helping behavior and helping motives using both of the helper’s and recipient’s perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply a spatial approach to organizational inequality to explore why unequal opportunity structures persist in an organization despite its commitment to diversity and employing highly skilled ethnic minority employees. Design/methodology/approach – The (re)production of inequality is explored by linking research on organizational space with HRM diversity management. Data from an ethnographic study undertaken in a Danish municipal center illustrates how a substructure of inequality is spatially upheld alongside a formal diversity policy. Archer’s distinction between structure and agency informs the analysis of how minority agency not only reproduces but also challenges organizational opportunity structures. Findings – The analysis demonstrates how substructures of inequality stabilize in spatial routines enacted in an ethnic zoning of the workplace and ethnification of job categories. However, the same spatial structures allows for a variety of opposition and conciliation strategies among minority employees, even though the latter tend to prevail in a reproduction rather than a transformation of the organizational opportunity structures. Research limitations/implications – The reliance on a single case study restricts the generalizability of the findings but highlights fruitful areas for future research. Practical implications – The study sensitizes HRM practitioners to the situated quality of workplace diversity and to develop a broader scope of HRM practices to address the more subtle, spatially embedded forms of inequality. Originality/value – Theoretical and empirical connections between research on organizational space and HRM diversity management have thus far not been systematically studied. This combination might advance knowledge on the persistence of micro-inequality even in organizations formally committed to diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bring together two separate strands of the literature (politics and industrial relations) on civil service management and reform to enable consideration of the industrial relations implications of these changes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is conceptual and has no empirical base. The paper is a general review of existing literature on the subject. Findings – The paper identifies the importance of historical legacy in both management and union behaviour in the civil service. By revisiting earlier civil service reforms, the reader is able to gain an understanding of the rationale for much of the current restructuring of the civil service. Additionally, any discussion of trade union behaviour should be located in the context of union tradition and evolution. Research limitations/implications – In being a general review, the paper does not report empirical evidence but instead provides the background for future research into civil service industrial relations and management. Originality/value – This paper is the first to provide a systematic review of management restructuring in the civil service whilst at the same time considering union responses. As such, the paper is of interest to academics and practitioners in the areas of both management and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The subject of leadership in Africa is an increasingly pertinent one that has been approached from various stand-points. Mainstream theoretical perspectives have shaped contemporary learning interventions on the continent, but are increasingly challenged by African renaissance views that critique this approach as a form of western ideological hegemony and an extension of the colonial project. However, alongside this debate, the issue of how to effectively address the issue of leadership "under-development" in African organisations remains salient. Moving beyond renaissance criticisms of western hegemonic thought formations, the purpose of this paper is to broaden the discourse by exploring several relevant options for a more pragmatic approach to leadership capacity building in contemporary African organisations. Design/methodology/approach - This is a conceptual paper that takes a critical look at the existing debate on leadership development in Africa. In this, it examines two separate existing knowledge frameworks and considers the implications of each of these for praxis in context. The analysis presented here focuses on means of navigating between these thought formations in a much more circumspect and critical manner that leaders can learn from. Findings - This paper highlights the important relationship between context, mainstream theory and indigenous knowledge. Its critical analyses suggest that engaging carefully with indigeneity in an experimental hybrid space may enable creative adaptation and appropriation through contextualisation, leading to more reflexive organisational practice. It subsequently proposes a conceptual model for constructive engagement with leadership development in practice. Originality/value - The paper makes an important conceptual contribution to the debate by moving a step beyond the important theoretical criticisms and counter-criticisms that have so far shaped the discourse and more crucially, focusing on the salient practical question of "where we go from here" with respect to leadership capacity building in African organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a new generic human resource management (HRM) system linked to a novel and more developed social and organizational paradigm: the common welfare HRM system. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper builds on the concept of individual consciousness to better understand the differences between the three generic HRM systems. It relates different levels of consciousness to one of the most cited HRM system typologies: the control and the commitment HRM systems. The control HRM system will be related to a low level of consciousness. The commitment HRM system will be related to a medium level of consciousness. And the highest level of consciousness is related to the proposed common welfare HRM system. This latter system of HRM practices will be supported by examples of three very innovative organizations. Findings – This paper presents a new HRM system that intends to foster innovation and creativity all around the organization, and represents a development on the traditional control and commitment. The common welfare HRM system implies a new approach in management and HRM, away from the primacy of the ego, competition and hierarchy. Research limitations/implications – The common welfare HRM system is related to highly innovative organizations and implies a paradigm shift in which a more humanistic view of individuals is offered. Practical implications – The paper clarifies the several HRM practices related to the three HRM systems: control, commitment and common welfare. Originality/value – The paper theoretically underpins the existence of a new and more developed HRM system through consciousness levels and analyzes the particular HRM practices of this new system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The employment relationship is beset by an incongruous mix of bases for cooperation and conflict. Scholars have attempted to reconcile the simultaneous presence of convergent and divergent interests between capital and labour in several ways and distinctive bodies of theory addressing this matter have emerged. However, to date, attempts to incorporate the role that the passage of time plays in changing the ratio of conflict to cooperation in the employment relationship have mostly been inadequate. This essay presents a theory about this issue based on six tenets. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A critical review of existing genres of literature addressing conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship and a conceptual contribution to a perceived generic limitation of these bodies of literature. Findings – A new conceptualization of the elements causing conflict and cooperation between employers and their employees. The theory presented is modular and mostly compatible with the work of earlier scholars. It has theoretical and practical application and aids in understanding the strategic management consequences of new employment forms when other pertinent variables are held constant. Practical implications – The paper offers a fresh perspective on new employment forms in particular Originality/value – A new conceptualization of the elements causing conflict and cooperation between employers and their employees. The new view is not necessarily incompatible with earlier perspectives but does have potential to create genuinely new research paradigms and reframe certain contemporary debates about non-standard work in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the practice of performance management in a cross-border context in times of global uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper. Findings – The findings expose global uncertainty to be wielding a significant influence on performance management. Practical implications – A practical framework is developed using real options theory. This approach offers suggestions for multinational corporations to increase the effectiveness of their performance management while at the same time focusing on profit-maximisation. Originality/value – This paper enhances international management research by recognizing that real options theory can effectively be applied to improve the effectiveness of performance management in global uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]